2009-Personal Growth (I know, it's just knitting. I overthink. So sue me.)
I did a lot of knitting this year. I really feel like I grew a lot. I got a lot more confident, but also more comfortable with who I am as a knitter. I no longer feel the need to "keep up with the Jones" in my knitting. I am beginning to feel like a "legitimate" knitter. (To this day, I still curse whoever is was on some forum who said "if you just spend all your time making scarves, you aren't a real knitter.") In the coming weeks I'll be reviewing some projects I'm most proud of now that I've actually road tested them.
Don't say I didn't warn you.
2010-Looking Ahead and Some Thoughts On Goals
I want 2010 to be another successful year in my knitting life, so I've started to think about it already. I want to keep up my good work. I want to accomplish more.
For the last two weeks, I've had all sorts of ideas swirling around in my head. Goals and Lists abound, which is all well and good, but I have a love/hate relationship with goals and lists.
The topic of what I should do/want to do/have to do dominates the running conversation I have with myself. (And I'm pretty sure it's not a good thing that I talk to myself so much.) I seem to always be writing goals, whether on ravelry groups or my blackberry or my blog. (And no two lists are alike, either.) Unfortunately, I never seem to act upon them. The minute I write down a task, I begin to feel crushed by pressure to complete it. And I usually react to this pressure by avoiding it. So I end up with a string of unfulfilled goals and half completed projects. I would do better to just call it a "want list". What I want to do doesn't seem to stress me out as much as what I should do.
All this blather is to set up my next statement...
I need to get serious about stashbusting in 2010 and no matter how much goals and lists scare me, I have to make them if I hope to make any progress in 2010.
The Plan
Obviously, I need some sort of plan. Ravelry Stash Knit Down Group to the rescue! They have lots of challenges to inspire those of us with out of control stashes. I plan to participate in the following:
- 52 in 52 The challenge? Complete 52 projects in a year (technically 1 project per week, but let's not split hairs, ok?) The definition of "project" is very loose so even a dishcloth counts.
- 2010/Month For this challenge the goal is to knit 2010 yds per month. I know up front there is no way in hell I can do that BUT I am thinking I can handle the 2010 feet per month that someone suggested.
- Bin by Bin While I'm using 2010 feet per month on my 52 projects, I will hopefully be emptying some of my bins of stash.
- Ravelympics Does this even need explanation?
- NaKniSweMoDo-National Knit a Sweater Month Dodecathon The only reason I'm even vaguely considering it is that fact that I saw many posts on the rav group where folks openly admitted failure.
- Christmas All Year Long
Putting the Plan into Action
And oh my this is just the beginning! There is so much more than just joining these challenges. I need to commit! I need to look through my queue. I have to be honest with myself about projects; know my limits. I need to wade through the stash. I hate to say it but I have to organize.
And that's not all! I've got charities to consider; techniques I want to try; books I want to read; blog goals. Not to mention, stuff. Just years of accumulated knitting stuff that I have to deal with.
Wait. Deep breath.
I'm working myself into a frenzy and it's not even Thanksgiving.
Before I freak out completely, I'm going to just enjoy Thanksgiving.
Needless to say, I will be revisiting this New Year's topic again in the coming weeks...but I'm open to any suggestions about how to organize projects and fulfill goals.
Note: The above post is 760 words long and I still can't believe that webring wanted a 1,000 word description of blogs wishing to join.
Why, yes, I hold a grudge. Why do you ask?
